Bottle capper



T. FARMER BOTTLE cAPPEa June 18, 1940.

Filed Aug. 11, 1939 1 N VENTOR. 77/0/1445 FflfiME/P BY M ATTORNEYS Patented June 18, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOTTLE CAPPER Thomas Farmer, Mamaroneck, N. Y. Application August 11, 1939, Serial No. 289,555

6 Claims. (G1. 226-84) This invention relates to bottle cappers and particularly to one which may be held in the hand and used upon a bottle without the necessity of providing any support for the bottle other than the hand of the operator. It is one of the objects of the invention to provide such a bottle capper whereby the upper end of the bottle is held between easily applied means such as a yoke engaging the under portion of the bulge of the bottle adjacent its mouth and the sealing member which by the downward movement of an operating handle fastens by constriction a standard type of crimped cap upon the mouth of the bottle.

provide such a bottle capper as may be easily applied to the bottle with one hand grasping the operating handle and in which the retaining yoke and sealing member will be maintained in axial .alignment during the downward. movement of the operating handle. Another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement in which the extent of relative movement of the yoke and sealing member decreases with the pivotal movement of the operating hand from a vertical starting position to a horizontal position at the sealing operation itself when a maximum of pressure is thus applicable to complete thesealing opera-,

tion.

A further object is to provide such a bottle capper consisting of but few parts and one which may be cheaply manufactured.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of it taken in connection with the annexed drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the bottle capper in position on the neck of a bottle preparatory to operation.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the device shown in Fig. l at one stage of operation.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the device shown in Fig. 1 at the completion of the capping operation.

Fig. 4.- is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing, Ill is the operating handle or lever formed of a flat piece of suitable metal with flanged sides II and 12 which towards one end of the handle are enlarged to form dependent side members l3 and l4. I5 is a hollow dome shaped sealing member flared at its outer end and adapted by downward pressure upon it to seal by constriction a bottle cap l6 over the mouth of a bottle. Rigidly attached to the A further object of the invention is to top of the sealing member I5 by welding or otherwise is a saddle piece ll formed with upturned ends I8 and [9 provided with circular holes therein to receive the pin 20 extending through the dependent side members 13 and I4 and secured from longitudinal movement by being headed at each end as at 2|.

22 is a semi-circular yoke made of metal of substantial strength and of a diameter slightly greater than that of the neck 23 of the bottle beneath the bulge 24 and is formed with two opposed flat upright extensions 25 and 26 of the proper distance apart to contact the inside surfaces of the two dependent portions I3 and I4 of the operating handle [0 between which and the upturned ends l8 and IQ of the saddle piece I! they are free to slide. Said extensions 25 and 26 are each formed with slots 21 and 28 to receive the pin 20 in contact with their edges. Said slots 2'! and 28 extend in an upright direction for a convenient distance where they change their courses to a horizontal direction to receive a pin 29, similar to the pin 20, held rigidly in the dependent portions [3 and I4 and positioned a short distance removed from the pin 20 on a line at right angles to the handle l0.

It will be seen by reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 that with the parts so arranged a pivotal movement of the handle l0 about the pin 20 from an upright position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, causes the pin 29 to travel along the horizontal leg of the slots 21 and 28 thereby to move the yoke 22 towards the sealing member which movement is permitted and directed in a straight line by the vertical legs of said slots in engagement with the pin 20. The length of the vertical legof the slots 21 and 28 defines the extent of relative movement between the yoke 22 and the sealing member I5, which is from a position where, with the yoke in engagement with the bulge 24 of the bottle, the sealing member IE will clear the top of the bottle with a cap in ready position upon it, to a position where the capping operation is completed, while the length of the horizontal legs of said slots defined by the distance between the pins 20 and 29 is of the same length as the vertical leg, the extent of pivotal movement of the handle 20 being a quadrant of a circle.

A second pair of vertical slots 30 and 3| in the yoke extensions 25 and 26 is engaged by ears 32 and 33 projecting from the rim of the sealing member l5 and serve to assure a straight line relative movement between the yoke 22 and the said sealing member. The medial lines of the slots 30 and 3|, the vertical portions of the slots 2'! and 28, the sealing member l5 and the pin 20 are all disposed in the same vertical plane with the axis of the bottle. 34 is a coil spring coiled about the pin 20 having its ends bearing against the saddle piece 1! and the pin 29, respectively, with sufiicient pressure to maintain the handle l normally in a position parallel to the axis of the sealing member 15. A cut-out portion 35 in the saddle piece ll beneath the pin 20 provides clearance for the coil portion of said spring 34.

In operation the bottle with a cap resting in readiness upon it is held in one hand in a substantially upright position While the other hand grasps the handle 20 which is also in an upright position. The device is moved laterally with respect to the bottle into the position shown in Fig. 1, and while one hand continues to hold the bottle the other presses the handle 28 downwardly in a circular direction thus causing the sealing member E and the yoke 22 to approach each other until the cap, compressed between the yoke engaging the under portion of the bulge on the neck of the bottle, and the sealing member I5, is finally constricted over the mouth of the bottle and seals it. It will be noted that the extent of this relative movement between the sealing member I5 and the yoke 22 will decrease as the handle approaches the position shown in Fig. 3, thus magnifying the power communicated through the operating handle to constrict the cap upon the bottle in the final step of capping it. Moreover, since the pin 29 which drives the yoke 22 towards the sealing member I5 is on the opposite side of the upright extensions 25 and 26 to that of the yoke 22, the said downward movement of the handle 28 tends to hold the yoke to the neck of the bottle. Because of this and the fact that the ofiset yoke is of substantial weight the force of gravity has the tendency when applying the device to a bottle, to cause the yoke to lie against the neck of the bottle while the ears 32 and 33 in engagement with the slots and 3| preserve a straight line movement between the yoke and the sealing member in the course of operation.

It is obvious that changes may be made in the device without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A device of the class described comprising an operating lever, a sealing member pivotally connected to said lever, a yoke provided with arms extending at an angle from the ends of said yoke, pivotally connected to said lever and slidably connected to said sealing member, said pivotal connections being so disposed that pivotal movement of said lever about said sealing member produces a relative movement between said yoke and said sealing member in a substantially straight line direction.

2. A device of the class described comprising an operating lever, a sealing member pivotally connected to said lever, a yoke provided with arms extending at an angle from the ends of said yoke, pivotally connected to said lever and slidably connected to said sealing member, said pivotal connections being so disposed that pivotal movement of said lever about said sealing member produces a relative movement between said yoke and said sealing member and guiding means carried by the said arms of said yoke and sealing member restricting said movement to a substantially straight line direction.

3. A device of the class described comprising an operating lever, a sealing member pivotally connected to said lever, a yoke provided with arms extending at an angle from the ends of said yoke pivotally connected to said lever and slid- .ably connected to said sealing member, said pivotal connections being so disposed that pivotal movement of said lever about said sealing member produces relative movement between said yoke and said sealing member and guiding means carried by the said arms of said yoke and sealing member restricting said movement to a substantially straight line direction, said guiding means comprising slots in said arms of said yoke engaging projecting portions of said sealing member.

4. A device of the class described comprising an operating lever, a sealing member, a yoke having angularly extending side portions formed with slots therein, a pivot connecting said lever and sealing member and slidably engaging said slots, a second pivot carried by said lever and slidably engaging said slots, said slots being so formed and said pivots being so disposed that pivotal movement of the lever about said sealing member produces relative movement between said sealing member and said yoke in a substantially straight line direction.

5. A device of the class described comprising an operating lever having dependent side portions, a sealing member, a yoke having angularly extending side members adapted to slide upon said dependent side portions and formed with right angled slots therein, a pivot connecting said lever and sealing member and slidably engaging one leg of said slots, a second pivot carried by said dependent side portions offset from said first mentioned pivot and slidably engaging the other so disposed that pivotal movement of said lever about said sealing member produces a relative movement between said sealing member and said yoke in a substantially straight line direction.

6. A device of the class described comprising an operating lever having dependent side portions, a sealing member, a yoke having angularly extending side members adapted to slide upon said dependent side portions and formed with v leg of said slots, said slots and said pivots being right angled slots therein, a pivot connecting said 

